John Weaver (mayor)

John Weaver (5 October 1861-18 March 1928) was Mayor of Philadelphia (R) from 1903 to 1907, succeeding Samuel Howell Ashbridge and preceding John E. Reyburn.

Biography
John Weaver was born in Stourport-on-Severn, England in 1861, and he emigrated to the United States in 1881 and worked at a Philadelphia department store before becoming a naturalized US citizen in 1889. He taught Sunday school at a Baptist church before becoming a lawyer in 1890, and his success as a local attorney brought him the attention of the Republican political machine. He served as District Attorney from 1902 to 1903 and was elected Mayor in 1903, and he awarded city contracts to members of the city establishment. In 1905, he broke with the establishment when he vetoed their plan to award a natural gas contract to a company controlled by establishment Republicans. He was embraced by the reformers, and the term-limited Weaver left office in 1907 and died in 1928.